Pak, Iran, Israel most negatively viewed countries: BBC survey

London, Feb 6: Global public perceptions of Pakistan's influence has been rated among the most negative along with Iran and Israel, according to BBC World Service radio's annual poll of 21 countries.

Eighteen countries had mainly negative views of Pakistan's influence according to the survey, almost all of which was conducted just after the attacks on Mumbai, widely believed to have been carried out by Pakistani-based guerrillas.

The survey, which questioned some 13,500 respondents in 21 countries around the world, found that perceptions of Iran and Israel's influence also became considerably more negative this year, the Daily Times reported.

The poll also revealed a slight improvement in views of the US, but they remained largely negative despite Barack Obama's election as the US president.

America's positive rating rose five points to 40 percent while negatives dipped four points to 43 percent, the poll said.

Germany was voted most favourable, with positives at 61 per cent against 15 per cent negatives.

In 13 out of 21 countries polled, the view of Russia was most commonly negative, while in only four countries, most notably China (74 percent positive) and India (39 percent positive, 12 percent negative), were they found to be predominantly positive.

Positive views fell particularly sharply in Britain, while negative views grew steeply in the U.S., France, Germany, Egypt, Turkey, and Nigeria.

Against last year's poll ratings, Russia and China's popularity standing in the world had slipped.

ANI